Shoe Sole with Torque Relief Component

ABSTRACT

A shoe sole includes a tread section having a cavity, and a torque relief component disposed in the cavity. A fixed part of the torque relief component is secured in the cavity, and a rotating part of the torque relief component is rotatable relative to the fixed part via a magnetic force.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/162,423, filed Mar. 23, 2009, the entire content of which is herein incorporated by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

(NOT APPLICABLE)

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A pivoting mechanism uses the principles of magnetic attraction and repulsion to permit the rotation of a segment of a shoe sole in the area of the ball of the foot. In this description, the term “shoe” is used to describe all matter of foot wear. The function of the mechanism is to facilitate the pivoting of the shoe wearer when changing directions and to reduce the amount of stress placed on the lower extremities when making this direction change.

A segment of the sole of a shoe is modified by the inclusion of a cavity. A cylinder, with an end, referred to as the retainer or fixed part, is housed in and affixed to the shoe cavity. Two low friction, preferably magnetic plates are contained in the retainer. The lower plate is free to rotate against the upper plate which does not rotate and is attached to the retainer. A magnet or magnets encapsulated in the plates provide a strong attractive (or repulsive in one embodiment) force between the plates. In one embodiment, the lower plate is held in place against the upper plate by magnetic attraction.

The use of magnetic attraction has several advantages when compared to other means of securing or attaching a rotating assembly to a shoe. Some of the advantages are: low manufacturing cost, ease of manufacture, light weight, and the pivoting mechanism has a low profile.

In an exemplary embodiment, a shoe sole includes a tread section having a cavity, and a torque relief component disposed in the cavity. A fixed part of the torque relief component is secured in the cavity, and a rotating part of the torque relief component is rotatable relative to the fixed part. The rotating part is cooperatively engaged with the fixed part via a magnetic force.

A sole part secured may be to the rotating part. Preferably, the sole part is raised relative to the tread section. In one arrangement, the sole part comprises a tread that is formed of a different compound than the tread section.

The tread section may include a ball part in an area adjacent a location where a ball of a wearer's foot would lie, where the cavity and the torque relief component are positioned adjacent the ball part of the tread section. The tread section may include at least one slot adjacent the cavity, which slot may be downward sloping.

The fixed part is preferably adhesively bonded in the cavity.

The fixed part may include an upper plate fixed to the shoe sole, and the rotating part may include a lower plate cooperatively engageable with the upper plate via the magnetic force and rotatable relative to the upper plate. The rotating part may further include a sleeve, such as a low friction sleeve, where the lower plate is disposed in the sleeve. At least one of the upper and lower plates preferably comprises a permanent magnet. In this context, the permanent magnet may be embedded in a low friction material.

Preferably, the magnetic force is adjustable.

In another exemplary embodiment, a shoe sole includes a tread section having a cavity, and a torque relief component disposed in the cavity. A fixed part of the torque relief component is secured in the cavity, and a rotating part of the torque relief component is rotatable relative to the fixed part via a magnetic force. In one arrangement, the rotating part of the torque relief component is engageable with the fixed part via the magnetic force. In another arrangement, the fixed part includes an upper plate fixed to the shoe sole, and the rotating part includes a lower plate that is rotatable relative to the upper plate. The upper and lower plates comprise permanent magnets disposed with similar poles in facing relation, where the lower plate is secured adjacent the upper plate via a connector.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and advantages will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a shoe sole and torque relief component;

FIG. 2 shows a bottom of a shoe with the torque relief component installed;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view through section A-A in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary sleeve for the torque relief component;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an alternative embodiment through section A-A in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the torque relief component using magnetic repulsion.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a rendering of a shoe with an exploded view showing the relationship between the components of the pivot mechanism and their relationship to the shoe. The rendering shows a left shoe, and a right shoe would be identical in construction. In a preferred construction, a shoe (8) and shoe sole (11) includes a cavity (1) and a torque relief component disposed in the cavity (1). The torque relief component includes a fixed part or retainer (2) and a rotating assembly or part (7) that is rotatable relative to the fixed part (2).

In FIG. 2, the bottom of the shoe (8) is shown with a generic tread pattern. The section (9) of the shoe sole that rotates is located under the ball of the foot. There are preferably two identical downward sloping slots (10) to facilitate the removal of the rotating assembly (7) for cleaning if needed. Also, removal of the lower section would allow the adjustment of the magnetic attractive force. Without the slots (10), the removal of the rotating assembly (7) would be difficult due to the strength of the magnetic attractive forces between the upper plate (3) and the rotating assembly (7).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the cavity (1) is contained within the shoe sole (11). A retainer (2) is seated in the cavity and may be adhesively bonded to the cavity surfaces. There is not any rotation between them. The retainer (2) contains an upper plate (3), possibly a low friction sleeve (4), and the rotating assembly (7). The retainer (2) may be made of any material of sufficient rigidity to maintain the relationship between the fixed and rotating components. Plastic or metal could be used to construct the retainer (2). The upper plate (3) is contained within the retainer. The upper plate (3) is preferably bonded to the underside of the retainer by a suitable adhesive. The lower plate (5) forms part of the rotating assembly (7). The plates (3, 5) may contain one or more permanent magnets that are embedded in a low friction material such that the surfaces of the magnets are covered with the material. However, if the retainer (2) contains a sufficient amount of a magnet attracting material, such as iron or the like, in the closed end and integral to the retainer (2), the upper (3) plate may not be necessary. In this embodiment, the two plates (3, 5) have opposite magnetic poles and are attracted to one another by a magnetic force.

Although the plates are held together by a strong attractive force, the lower plate (5) is free to rotate. This is because the strength of the magnet field lies in a plane that is perpendicular to the plate surfaces. The magnetic force in the horizontal plane, i.e., the direction of rotation, is relatively weak and therefore rotation can take place.

The strength of the magnetic field can be varied by selecting different types of magnetic material, changing the number of magnets or sizes, and varying the distance between the plates. The magnetic force should be strong enough to securely hold the lower plate (5) in place and yet not so strong that rotation of the lower plate (5) is unduly hindered. The flexibility afforded by varying the magnetic strength allows for different shoe applications and for different characteristics or demands of the shoe wearer. For example, shoe sizes can be proxy for the wearer's weight. The weight of the shoe wearer puts a downward force on the rotating assembly (7). This downward force affects how strong or weak the magnetic field must be to permit ease of rotation when the wearer changes direction.

If more than one magnet is used in the upper (3) or lower plate (5), they are preferably arranged in a symmetrical pattern to make the lower plate (5) self-centering on the upper plate (3). The lower plate (5) may be provided with a rounded edge to reduce the surface contact with the inside wall of the retainer (2). The magnetic attraction holds the lower plate (5) securely in place against the upper plate (3). A circular segment of the sole or sole part (6) is attached to the lower plate (5) by a suitable adhesive, and this segment is not attached to the retainer (2). If magnets are made integral to the sole part (6), a lower plate is not needed. The tread can be of any pattern associated with how the shoe is to be used. There may be an advantage for the tread on the sole part (6) to be made of a different, e.g. softer, compound and to be slightly higher than the surrounding tread surface to improve traction with the ground or playing surface.

With reference to FIG. 4, a low friction sleeve (4) could be used to further reduce friction between the rotating surfaces. However, the use of a sleeve is not expected to be necessary as the surfaces of the plates, themselves, are preferably made from or covered with a low friction material. The low friction sleeve (4) would be located between the horizontal surfaces of the two plates and the retainer (2) inside wall down to the lower edge of the retainer (2). The sleeve (4) would be free to rotate. Also, if binding should occur between the sole part (6) and the inside wall of the cavity (1), the sleeve could be extended downward to mitigate any binding between them.

FIG. 5 shows an alternate configuration of the upper and the lower plates (3, 5), where the upper plate contains embedded magnets, and the lower plate does not contain any magnets but rather is made from a magnet attracting material. In the drawing, the plates are reversed in their vertical location, i.e., the upper plate is now the lower plate.

FIG. 6 shows another alternative construction of the rotating assembly that uses magnetic repulsion in place of attraction. The repulsion force reduces the force on the low friction surfaces and therefore reduces the effort to cause rotation due to less surface distortion. An upward force on the sole (15) causes the keeper (16) to lift off the upper magnet (17) and engage the low friction surface. It is intended that the magnets with same facing poles never make contact. A connector (18) such as a screw is used to secure the rotating assembly to the retainer. Also, the screw (18) permits the removal of the rotating assembly for the cleaning of the lower portion of the cavity should it become necessary.

While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. 

1. A shoe sole comprising: a tread section having a cavity; and a torque relief component disposed in the cavity, wherein a fixed part of the torque relief component is secured in the cavity, and wherein a rotating part of the torque relief component is rotatable relative to the fixed part, the rotating part being cooperatively engaged with the fixed part via a magnetic force.
 2. A shoe sole according to claim 1, further comprising a sole part secured to the rotating part.
 3. A shoe sole according to claim 2, wherein the sole part is raised relative to the tread section.
 4. A shoe sole according to claim 3, wherein the sole part comprises a tread, and wherein the sole part tread is formed of a different compound than the tread section.
 5. A shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the tread section comprises a ball part in an area adjacent a location where a ball of a wearer's foot would lie, and wherein the cavity and the torque relief component are positioned adjacent the ball part of the tread section
 6. A shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the tread section comprises at least one slot adjacent the cavity.
 7. A shoe sole according to claim 6, wherein the at least one slot is downward sloping.
 8. A shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the fixed part is adhesively bonded in the cavity.
 9. A shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the fixed part comprises an upper plate fixed to the shoe sole, and wherein the rotating part comprises a lower plate cooperatively engageable with the upper plate via the magnetic force and rotatable relative to the upper plate.
 10. A shoe sole according to claim 9, wherein the rotating part further comprises a sleeve, and wherein the lower plate is disposed in the sleeve.
 11. A shoe sole according to claim 10, wherein the sleeve is a low friction sleeve.
 12. A shoe sole according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the upper and lower plates contains a permanent magnet.
 13. A shoe sole according to claim 12, wherein the permanent magnet is embedded in a low friction material.
 14. A shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic force is adjustable.
 15. A shoe sole comprising: a tread section having a cavity; and a torque relief component disposed in the cavity, wherein a fixed part of the torque relief component is secured in the cavity, and wherein a rotating part of the torque relief component is rotatable relative to the fixed part via a magnetic force.
 16. A shoe sole according to claim 15, wherein the rotating part of the torque relief component is engageable with the fixed part via the magnetic force.
 17. A shoe sole according to claim 15, wherein the fixed part comprises an upper plate fixed to the shoe sole, and wherein the rotating part comprises a lower plate that is rotatable relative to the upper plate, the upper and lower plates comprising permanent magnets disposed with similar poles in facing relation, wherein the lower plate is secured adjacent the upper plate via a connector. 